History of Modern Design: Graphics and Products Since the Industrial Revolution

An exploration of the parallel development of product and graphic design from the 18th century to the 21st, considering the relationship between design and manufacturing, and the technological, social and commercial context in which this relationship developed. The effects of a vastly enlarged audience for the products of modern design and the complex dynamic of mass consumption are also discussed. Part of this dynamic reveals that products serve as signs for desires that have little or nothing to do with need or function. The book also explores the impact of new man-made industrial materials on modern design - from steel to titanium, plywood to plastic, cotton to nylon, wire to transistors and microprocessors to nanotubes. The research, development and application of these technologies is shown as depending upon far-reaching lines of communication stretching across geographical and linguistic boundaries.

Design plays an integral part in our lives, surrounding us at home and in the office. The products of design—whether in the form of household products, packaging, fashion, software, industrial equipment, or promotional images in the mass media—can be seen both as objects of beauty and as the result of creative human endeavors.

This insightful, wide-ranging book surveys applied arts and industrial design from the eighteenth century to the present day, exploring the dynamic relationship between design and manufacturing, and the technological, social, and commercial context in which this relationship developed. The effects of a vastly enlarged audience for the products of modern design and the complex dynamic of mass consumption, are also discussed. Part of this dynamic reveals that products serve as symbols for desires that have little to do with need or function.

Wide-ranging examples of product and graphic design are shown—and their significance within the history of design explained—including vessels and other objects made from glass, ceramics, plastic, or metal, as well as tableware, furniture, textiles, lighting, housings for electric appliances, machines and equipment, cars, tools, books, posters, magazines, illustrations, advertisements, and digital information. The book also explores the impact of a wealth of new manmade industrial materials on the course of modern design—from steel to titanium, plywood to plastic, cotton to nylon, wire to transistors, and .from microprocessors to nanotubes. The research, development, and applications of these technologies are shown as depending upon far-reaching lines of communication, stretching across geographical and linguistic boundaries. In this way, David Raizman reveals the history of modern design as a "global" history.